Good Practice in Youth Information Youth Participation Peer-To-Peer Reaching Out
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good practice in youth information youth participation peer-to-peer reaching out EUROPEAN YOUTH INFORMATION AND COUNSELLING AGENCY copyright © 2010 by ERYICA asbl good practice in youth information youth participation peer-to-peer reaching out Reproduction or use of this publication is possible provided the source is acknowledged and permission is granted by the copyright holders. This project has been funded with the support from the European Commission. The publication reflects the views of the author only and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. ERYICA EXPERTS Marc Boes, Mick Conroy, Johan Bertels. CONTRIBUTORS National Coordination and Development Centre of Youth Information and Counselling Services, Oulu, Finland; Zajednica ICM, Croatia; Youth Information Centre of Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation; aha – Tipps & Infos für junge Leute, Vorarlberg, Austria; Omladinska Nevladina Organizacija, Serbia; Young Scot, Scotland, the UK; MISSS - Mladinsko Informativno Svetovalno Sredisce, Slovenia; Forum MNE, Montenegro; Infojove - Balearic Islands, Spain; IJAB, Germany; Mallorca Centre de Joventut i Ocupació Ajuntament d’Andratx, Spain; CIDJ, France. PROJECT MANAGERS Anna Roganova and Florence Secula, under the supervision of Davide Capecchi, Director of ERYICA. DESIGN Ismet Lisica, studiolisica.com 03 contents introduction youth participation 2.1 Background of Youth Participation 07 2.2 Introduction 08 2.3 Initiative Channel - E-democracy for young people FINLAND 10 2.4 All for You CROATIA 11 2.5 Regional Public Debates CROATIA 12 2.6 New Leaders of Youth Exchange RUSSIAN FEDERATION 13 2.7 Jugend & Politik - FrageRaum Politik AUSTRIA 14 2.8 Johnny on the spot SERBIA 15 2.9 Commissioned For Action SCOTLAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM 16 2.10 Further references 17 peer-to-peer education 3.1 Background of Peer-to-Peer Education 19 3.2 Introduction 20 3.3 Info-Peers AUSTRIA 23 3.4 Youth to Youth Phone SLOVENIA 24 3.5 EU Simulation Activity MONTENEGRO 25 3.6 Forums on School violence MONTENEGRO 26 3.7 Passa dels mals rotllos SPAIN 27 3.8 No Faster than life MONTENEGRO 28 3.9 Further references 29 reaching out 4.1 Background of Reaching out 31 4.2 Introduction 32 4.3 QR-Codes, mobile tagging GERMANY 33 4.4 Redes de Jóvenes SPAIN 34 4.5 Building Europe Together RUSSIAN FEDERATION 35 4.6 More Attention Please! SERBIA 36 4.7 Vocational guidance to young people with disabilities FRANCE 37 4.8 Further references 38 04 CONTENTS introduction In 2008, ERYICA, the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency, received a grant from the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency for a new project in the framework of the action 4.5 “Call for proposals for projects supporting information activities for young people and youth workers” of the Youth in Action programme. The funded project was entitled “A Better Youth Information for New Times” and foresaw as one of its major deliverables the publication of a booklet on good practice in youth information among the ERYICA members and partners. The publication is a collection of good practice on “youth participation”, “peer-to-peer” and “reaching out” in the field of youth information, gathered from a call for contributions among ERYICA members. The project descriptions were chosen for their quality, innovation and demonstrated successful outcomes. They thus represent the actual trends and developments in youth information practice across Europe. This publication aims at advertising at a European level youth information practices which are of a particularly innovative nature and which can serve as an inspiration for possible future projects or collaborations. Through this publication, ERYICA therefore encourages bilateral contacts for the development of cooperation between European youth information centres. ERYICA would like to thank all the youth centres and the youth information experts who contributed to this publication. The present booklet reflects both their commitment to youth work and their high-level professionalism. 05 INTRODUCTION youth participation 06 2.1 Background of Youth Participation “Participation is not an aim in itself, but an approach to becoming in Youth Information” was issued, by which are set the standards an active citizen. Participation is a means of taking an active role of young people’s involvement in youth information. Among other both in the development of one’s own environment and in European requirements, this document focuses on the direct involvement of co-operation”1. young people in the process of decision-making in the field of youth information, as well as on the needed organizational and political Since 2001 and the publication by the European Commission of the support to youth participation in youth information work4. White Paper “A New impetus for European Youth”2, participation and information were identified and approved by the Council of At last, the Youth Council of the European Commission, in its youth ministers as joint first priorities in European youth policies. Resolution of 27 November 2009, on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018), encourages In line with this decision, the European Commission proposed in Member States and the Commission to take initiative in their 2003 a series of common objectives to encourage young people respective sphere of competences to “make an effective use of to become more involved and better informed. One of these information and communication technologies to broaden and objectives is clearly stating the need to increase “participation by deepen the participation of young people”5. It is a strong signal that young people in youth information, for example in the preparation a consensus on the undisputed importance of participation in youth and dissemination of information” based on the rationale that information work has been reached at a European level, and that it “better information for young people is a precondition for better will be increasingly relevant in the future developments of European participation and for the development of their potential as youth policy. individuals and citizens”3. 1 CDEJ 1997:7, The Participation of Young People. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. 2 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_training_youth/youth/c11055_en.htm Later on, additional steps have been taken at a European level 3 Council Resolution of 25 November 2003 on common objectives for participation by and to bring forward the importance of youth participation in youth information for young people [Official Journal C 295 of 05.12.2003], <http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_training_youth/youth/c11075_en.htm> information. The European Youth Information Charter, adopted 4 http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/youth/Source/Partners/Eryica_Rainbow_paper_en.pdf in Bratislava (Slovak Republic) on 19 November 2004 by the 5 http://ec.europa.eu/youth/pdf/doc1648_en.pdf, p. 17 15th General Assembly of the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA), reaffirms in its preamble that youth information work is a means of promoting the young people’s participation as active members of society. This Charter, signed by 41 organisations in 29 different countries, demonstrates that the understanding of youth participation as an essential component of youth information work has trickled down to the national and organizational level, thereby showing ownership of this principle by youth information workers themselves. At the General Assembly of the Youth Exchange held in Vienna, Austria, on 22nd April 2006, the “Rainbow Paper on Participation 07 BACKGROUND OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION 2.2 Introduction BY MICK CONROY University of Wales, Newport, the United Kingdom Go to the young people, live amongst them, start from where they these efforts become tokenistic and young people involved can be are and with where they want to go and of the best leaders the manipulated and showed off as trophies, decorating a local event young people will say “we did it ourselves”. where funders and other stakeholders are present. Anon Genuine participation approaches to engagement of young people The following examples of good practice illustrate the message within youth information work carry with them a great deal of risk of behind the statement above and demonstrate how young people apparent failure and possible conflict. This is especially so in cases can benefit from being involved in the planning, delivery, and where the desired outcomes for the young people may not match promotion of your information work with young people. Before those expected by the organisation or local authorities e.g. reducing reading the examples it is worth exploring a context for youth teenage pregnancies or tackling crime issues may not be high on participation within youth information networks. Article 12 of the the list of priorities of young people that you engage with. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that ‘Children and young people have a right to participate in the decision making A truly participative approach? processes that are relevant to their lives and a right to influence the decisions made in their regard within the family, school, and In the United Kingdom, a celebrated message in the process of community. participation is in seeing young people as ‘creators not consumers’ and that with this comes the notion of possibility and a chance of the Many youth organisations promoting participation use the UN young person becoming ‘something more’ as a result of intervention statement and it can be found prominent in most youth policy of your youth information work (Smith, 1980). In this sense, we documents that appear across Europe and beyond. However, can define a truly participative approach to be what is known as whilst it is important to embed participation into policies, of more ‘creative participation’. For Youth Information Work the use of this importance are the intentions towards implementation of these term can bring challenges in relation to allowing the young people policies into the everyday practice of youth information projects.